The American Dream...

Twenty-six years is a long time when considering the lifespan of a goldfish or a mosquito. Despite the new age group that must be marked on my next road-race application and my rising health insurance cost, I can't help but to feel blessed and forever indebted when acknowledging all of those who could not make it to ring in their 9,490th day. Yet the towering oaks and weathered stones serve as a constant reminder that time is merely relative, and the highs and lows of today are simply the experience and maturity of tomorrow.

Despite cinema adaption and style transformation, the mid-twenties All American experience has remained... for lack of better words... desirable, admirable, and comfortable. While local banks gave way to Fannie Mae and the milk man became the cable man, the white picket fence and golden retriever equation always seemed to be just an engagement and school district away. With the divorce rate climbing to almost fifty-percent you can still bring the sparkle of hope and optimism to twenty-something year old's eye with the proclamation "they lived happily ever after".

Lately it never seems to unfold like the country song goes. I always reflect on our parents at our age and where they were, and no matter the circumstance you can't help but to feel behind. The cinematic vision of the mid-twenties seems to be consistent with the one's that were spewed across our playroom walls as our neighborhood sweetheart insisted on playing house. Even the most macho of us men developed a nice little SIMS family with a caring mom and hard working dad who said things like, "honey, I'm home", and "how about we go play a game of catch, would you like that?".

I think the problem with our generation is accepting the fact that times have changed. The trouble with letting go of our adolescence is the struggle to understand that the next step may not yet be drawn out in a paint-by-color. While most of this blog has served as a speakoutloud kind of experience, it seems more relevant now more than ever that I remind myself that sometimes we just need to let this entire experience unfold as it will.

I think that once we are able to come to terms with the fact that we have no idea where this is going, then we will finally start to understand that the "right path" may not be a path at all. Maybe it's time to put aside the fences, retrievers, and anxiety that's associated with what comes next, and start to thrive in the uncertainty that exists in this awkward time at this awkward moment. But who knows, as always I'm just talking aloud anyway..